Not Set in Stone
by Raven's Favorite Emotion
Summary: The future is not set in stone. When a futuristic Dr. Light hatches a plan to destroy the Teen Titans he brings the future Titans to the past with him. Now the Teen Titans are wondering if you really can change fate.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Teen Titan's franchise. Sorry to disappoint. **

_Not Set in Stone_

_Prologue_

Dr. Arthur Light was not a man to be messed with, to say the least, at least not right now. He would not enjoy being bothered when he was just getting his head back on his shoulders.

He felt like he hadn't been himself, not for a long, long time. It was almost like he couldn't control his emotions or actions.

But not now. His head was becoming clearer every second and he could now control himself with clarity. Who would have known that it would have been the Titans that caused this understanding?

He had hit his head while fighting him, and now alone in his jail cell he understood what he was. Who he was.

Before this life he was Dr. Arthur Light. He had been a genius in his scientific field, and because of this he decided to take advantage of his brains and talent. He came to the side of evil simply because it was the most convenient and the easiest to understand to him. Besides, the dark side had a better pay check.

He had been this close to destroying the Justice League when the team of heroes had decided to regain their footing and beat him at his own game. They had turned his technologies against him, and they had blinded him.

They then tore apart his brain, forcing him to have the confidence of a teenage girl and robbing him of some of his intelligence. The Justice League then transported him to Jump City where they had left him to be a plaything to the Teen Titans, their proteges. They had thought that he would be easy to defeat, and they were right.

The Justice League wanted the Teen Titans to defeat someone, even if he was insignificant and small. They had underestimated the Titans at their earliest and had thought that they weren't going to be anything good, which over time had proved false.

But all of that was gone now. Dr. Light was slowly regaining what he had lost thanks to the Justice League and he wanted revenge. He wanted it so badly that he could feel the need flooding his veins.

But he didn't want it from the Justice League. Oh no. Destroying them at their core wouldn't be enough. He wanted to badly shaken them, and then come for them next.

He would destroy the Titans. But he couldn't do it now. Oh no, they were too good now. But if he could go back in time, where they were weaker, slower, and younger, then things would be easier. Far easier.

And so the calculating part of his brain, a part that for far too long was cold, began thinking and tinkering with his plan.

**A/N: Well. Here you go. My new story. I've based it on a Teen Titans comic book story arc and yes, there will be time travel in this story. I can tell I'm going to have a lot of fun writing this one. **

**Love,**

**RFE **


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. And I really hate writing disclaimers. But I also hate getting sued, so it evens out**.

_Not Set in Stone_

_Chapter One_

Beast Boy was bored. And he was hungry. This was not a good combination for the green skinned teen who felt like he was going to die from ennui and hunger pains.

So far this day had been very calm, but it an eerie type of calm, like the kind right before a storm. An eye of a hurricane.

There was no crime for the Teen Titans to fight today. In fact,the closest to a tussle that Beast Boy had been all day was when he and Cyborg were having their daily tofu versus meat fight. Even that seemed strangely placid, though.

Staring up at his ceiling wasn't helping things, though, he admitted to himself. There were only so many times that a person could count the number of tiles above their bed. With a grunt he pulled himself up, morphed into a cat, and landed agilely on his feet, and then became human again as we walked to the living room.

The only person sitting on the couch was Raven, and she was reading a book. Cyborg was off fixing his baby, she had sustained some damages yesterday, so he knew that there was no chance of him getting Cyborg to play some video games right now. Robin and Starfire were in the evidence room writing reports, which for some unfathomable reason they enjoyed doing together. It was one of their 'couple activities'.

He could hear them, his ears were sensitive enough to hear through several stories, but they seemed to be like a television whose volume was on low. Their words weren't as clear as they normally were.

Not saying anything to Raven (because he didn't want to be the one to break the silence and the calm that had settled over the tower) he instead went and put his head in the fridge deciding to just grab some tofu and barb-b-q sauce and put it on a plate.

While he was eating the back of his neck began tingling. He didn't like this quiet, the stillness that had settled over the tower like a layer of dust. How could Raven stand it being like this? Did she actually enjoy this type of atmosphere?

Something was going to happen today. Beast Boy wasn't entirely sure how he knew this, but that's what his instincts told him. He just couldn't figure out what it could possibly be. The apocalypse had already happened, so that was out.

He was just going to have to put an end to this silence. It was unnatural.

Putting his plate in the sink he cleared his throat. Raven didn't look up. He cleared his throat again, louder than before. "Do you need a cough drop?" she asked him, her eyes not leaving the page that she was currently on.

Beast Boy grinned and walked over to the couch where he plopped down next to her. "Nope. Just had something in my throat."

"I could tell." Raven put a finger in between the pages of her book and looked at him despairingly. "What do you want, Beast Boy?"

"Nothing. What, can't I just come sit next to you and not say anything?"

Instantly Raven put up her guard. "You never have before. For some reason you enjoy bothering me when I'm reading now, meaning that you either begin talking, like you just did, or you turn on the t.v. and start playing video games with Cyborg."

Beast Boy frowned. "Well, I can sit here and not talk."

"Prove it."

"Okay. I'll sit here not talking until you finish that chapter."

"Fine," Raven opened her book up again.

"Fine."

"Hush, Beast Boy. I'm reading."

As soon as she began reading again Beast Boy felt the calm fall over them again. It was suffocating ,this silence.

"Raven-" he began.

"Beast Boy," her voice turned exasperated. "You didn't even last a page!"

"Do you have a bad feeling about today?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Like, doesn't it feel weird?"

"Not really. That's probably just how you react to silence. You can't stand there not being some kind of noise."

Beast Boy shrugged, allowing this. "Well, do you mind, then, if I turn on the t.v.?"

"Not really. You don't have to ask me. It's never stopped you before."

"Well I figured that I'd be considerate just this once."

"Thanks, I guess."

The quiet hum of the t.v. instantly made Beast Boy feel at ease. This, he thought, was much better.

But instead of watching the television, like he planned to, he found himself watching Raven read. She was absorbing when she read, whether she realized this or not. Her eyes were intent on a page, reading took her whole focus. It was how she could tune things out so easily and read even when World War III was going on behind her.

She bit her lip when she read too, just a very small piece of it. She was very still when she read too; she didn't even have to physically move to turn a page. Raven was far more interesting than anything that the t.v. could offer.

After a few moments of this Raven looked up again from her book. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Nothing."

"Then why do you keep looking at me like that? Find something to do. Watch your cartoons or whatever."

"Okay." Beast Boy turns back to the television and lets the movie that's on pollute his brain for a little bit until he turns back around again and opens his mouth.

"I'm never going to get through this book, am I?" she mutters to herself. "What?" she asks again.

"Look, Raven, I know that we've had this conversation before, but," at this point Raven's face has hardened, like she knows where this is going. She probably does. "But I like you okay? I really do. And I was wondering if-" before he can finish Raven cuts him off.

"Don't do this again. You've already asked, and I've already answered. We both know where this is going to go."

"But if you just _tried,_" he argued. "Just once. What's it going to hurt?"

"It could hurt a lot of people, Beast Boy. My emotions would probably cause the whole city to blow up. I can't chance this, not even with you. I'm sorry." Even though the two of them have had this conversation before, she's never added the last two sentences. Beast Boy pounces on them.

"So you admit that you _do _have emotions for me. Ones that are more than friendship?" he presses.

"I-I never," she begins but the alarm begins blaring, everything flashing red. Beast Boy silently curses at it.

"Titans, trouble!" Robin shouts, and Raven pulls up her hood as they get ready to go the scene of the crime.

"Yeah, we get that," Cyborg answers, walking down the hall. "Where's it at?"

"A bank downtown, on the corner of Lexington and Darwin."

"Got it."

..O..

When they get to the scene of the crime they instantly relax when they see that it's just Dr. Light. _This shouldn't even been considered crime_, Beast Boy thinks to himself. This was easy. Very easy, and yet Dr. Light insisted on trying to rob things or destroy the city over and over again. There was that one time whenever he had kidnaped Kole when he seemed dangerous because the Brotherhood of Evil had put him up to it, but now he was the same as he was before, a stupid petty criminal that wasted the Teen Titans time.

What a dumb thing to be pulled out of a great conversation. This was pointless. Why didn't he just give up? Everyone here knew how this was going to end, especially the villain. He was such a joke.

But, for some reason, Beast Boy still felt uneasy about this. Maybe it was because he could feel the air vibrating, and it was still too quiet for his liking.

The Teen Titans all relaxed when they realized who the bad guy was and Beast Boy could tell that beneath her cloak Raven was smirking. She went to Dr. Light and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around all of the color left his face. "Um... can I just go now?"

Robin nodded.

And then the whole world went white and Beast Boy felt himself being flown up into the air. He landed on the hard concrete and knew that his legs were going to be bruised tomorrow. He groaned and rolled over.

Well, this was new. Dr. Light had never done that before. He had never tried to attack after he had just surrendered. When he was finally able to see again, because the white light had blinded him, he could see Dr. Light lying in front of him. This wasn't a plan of his at all.

Then the oddest thing happened before his eyes. Right in front of him was Dr. Light... but that couldn't be, Dr. Light was right in front of him...

But it was Dr. Light. And then Beast Boy could hear himself talking. He wasn't talking, though, he was just standing here wondering what the hell was going on. Then he heard Robin's voice. "Titans, GO!" he shouted just like he did now, except that his voice was deeper... and he certainly wasn't wearing his Robin costume anymore.

It couldn't be...

But then suddenly the Dr. Light that the _other _Beast Boy and Robin-but-not-Robin was fighting ran up to the Dr. Light that was laying on the street in front of him and grabbed him and there was another bright burst of light and they were both gone.

And standing in front of him was himself, but with a new costume and an more mature looking face. Beast Boy felt strangely light headed.

He noticed that he was not the only one with a double. All of the others were standing in front of people that greatly resembled them, but older.

They were all speechless in studying each other. No one seemed to know what to say. Beast Boy certainly didn't know what to say. He was to busy looking at himself. For an insane second he wanted to reach out and touch the man in front of him and make sure that he was real, but he was pretty sure that he was. He looked way to solid to be a pure hallucination, and he was pretty sure that he didn't have enough imagination for everyone else.

"Well," he heard the other Raven say. "This is what I expected when I punched the alarm clock this morning."

..O..

Raven had to admit that this was the weirdest thing that she had ever been seen, and that included the time that Cyborg had a computer virus and began trying to eat them.

It wasn't just that everyone in the room had stunt doubles (or you could call them older clones, if that made any sense at all), even though that was weird too. It was the fact that they could see exactly how they ended up in the future.

There was no question about it. These people (themselves!) were from the future. They had established that when they were coming back from the crime scene to the tower. Robin had interrogated them about who they were from the very start.

Besides, Raven could see similarities in these other people and her teammates. Beast Boy (or Changeling as he called in the future) was still green, but he was taller than he was now by at least four inches, and his face had matured and hardened, the childish panes of his face gone. Robin, now 'Nightwing' as he had hastily informed them, was several inches taller than he was now and had longer hair. At least that one aspect of Robin had not changed, he was still vain about his hair. Cyborg looked exactly the same, except maybe an inch taller thanks to his new technologies.

Starfire, still Starfire, was probably the most changed at first glance out of all of them. She wasn't as bubbly anymore; her whole demeanor had changed. She didn't not seem as happy with her bubbly personality sparkling all of the time like it did now. She was subdued now. It was strange, and it was also apparent that 'Nightwing' probably had something to do with it, if the strong emotions that Starfire was emitting every time she looked at him were any type of indication.

Raven didn't like looking at herself- her future self that is. She didn't know why, exactly. Maybe it was because the new Raven was wearing all white, something that Raven knew didn't happen just by coincidence. There was a reason for it, always. The older Raven was also taller than the Raven now by two inches, her hair was longer, and her features were sharpened, more defined, but she still managed to look pretty. She almost looked like their mother. Almost.

The new Raven also looked more relaxed, more at ease than Raven did now. She didn't seem to be trying so hard to contain her emotions, which was something that Raven was curious about (that, along with with the white costume had to mean something).

All of the emotions that were running haywire were giving Raven a headache, and a big one at that, so she decided to shut off her empathy (as much as she could anyway) for the time being. That way she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. She never realized how so many people in the Tower could impact her.

Nightwing took charge of the room as soon as everyone was silent, and Robin was standing right beside him. It was almost eerie to see those two standing side by side. The present and the future standing together. Not exactly something that you see everyday.

"Okay," Nightwing said. "We're us, and you're you. Obviously. But how could this have happened?"

"We were both fighting Dr. Light at the same time, right?" the older Cyborg offered. "He had to have something to do with this."

"We know he does," Nightwing answered. "Because we were getting some information from the criminal underground that Dr. Light is planning something involving us. But more directly you guys, the younger Teen Titans. We're the Titans now."

"But how are you for sure that this is what he's after?" Robin asked. "Couldn't that have been a false lead."

"No, we're pretty sure that it's not," the older Starfire said, speaking for the first time. It was quite clear that her accent was now gone and she could use contractions while speaking. "We got the information from a reliable source, and we remember this attack from when we were your age. We've been waiting for this to happen for a while now."

"Well can't we just beat Dr. Light the way that we did the last time? I mean it's going to happen the same way that you remember it, right?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not necessarily," the elder Raven interjected, which surprised Raven. What was she going to say? "The future isn't set in stone. From what we can gather things change each time that this happens to us. For example, whenever this happened and we were the Teen Titans us, the Titans, were all a year younger than we were then. For example, I'm twenty six. Last time I came from the future I was twenty three."

"So basically your saying that we can't set any store by your memories, and that things aren't going to be like the last time and that we're all going to have to wing it?" Beast Boy turned to the older Raven.

"Pretty much. A decision that you make today could alter us, your future, completely tomorrow. It's a mix of little things, along with the decisions that we all make for ourselves. Like Raven," at this point Raven nodded towards the younger version of herself, "could go and get hit by a car and I wouldn't be sitting here tomorrow."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Raven said.

The older Raven smiled. "I didn't think that I would. It was just an example."

"Well, it is very good that we know what we are going up against," the present Starfire said, "but what does this mean for us?"

"Basically he wants to get revenge on the Justice League, because they made him what he is at the present time."

"Which is what?" asked Beast Boy. "A loser who doesn't have any confidence in what he's doing and can escape from jail easily?"

The older Cyborg smiled. "Yeah. Basically. We think that the League messed with his brain somewhat and sent him to Jump City so that we could have someone to beat to boost up _our _confidence. You see, they didn't trust us, at first at least, with anything big. They didn't think that we could do this. A bunch of sidekicks and teenagers? Yeah right, or at least that's what they were thinking at the time."

"So the League's behind this?" Robin asked, his mask narrowing."Well then why doesn't he just go attack _them_? I mean it's their fault, not ours, that his head's all messed up."

"Yes, but we think that he want to get back to the League by attacking us. But not us now, back in our present the Titans are a powerful organization. Not that y'all aren't now," the older Cyborg put his hands in front of him as if he was defending himself. "But we're saying that we have far more resources in the future, and more access to everything than we did when we were teenagers. Besides, Robin, you just don't understand how much you mean to the League."

At this Robin raised an eyebrow or at least one of the sides of his mask grew larger. "I mean you're Batman's protege. But when you became Nightwing the Justice League stopped trying to interfere so much and starting letting us do our own thing. We think, at least, that Dr. Light thinks that if he attacks us when we were more vulnerable would make things easier for him and he would win. But he doesn't throw us coming after him right before his time machine goes off into the equation, ever."

"Hold on," Robin stopped Cyborg. "But wouldn't he remember that you guys follow him in? Just like you remember him coming here?"

"No," Changeling answered. "It was always the Dr. Light from the future calling the shots. The younger one's head is still screwed up. We don't know what causes him to finally regain his mind, but it's something. The younger Dr. Light always just goes along with what the older one says and ends up not remembering anything. That's what happened with us at least."

"This is just so freaking weird." Beast Boy said suddenly.

"Believe me," Changeling smiled at Beast Boy. "I remember thinking the exact same thing."

"So what happens next?" Robin asked, looking at Nightwing.

"That depends on you guys. This is your present that we're treading on."

"You must stay with us!" Starfire interjected. "It is the least that we can do for ourselves." She threw a tentative smile towards her elder self, who did not respond to her friendliness.

"Good, because I've got to pee like there's no tomorrow," Cyborg said, and with that he went off to find a bathroom.

**A/N: I've got to say, I didn't expect this many people to be interested in this story. It's actually making me kind of nervous. I can't mess up now. But I hope you like it, and I hope that this chapter wasn't hellishly confusing or anything like that. If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll try to respond. **


	3. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. **

_Not Set in Stone_

_Chapter Two_

"Damn it!" Dr. Light cried, grabbing the nearest object without noticing what it was and threw it against the wall where it ricocheted off with an unholy clatter. He was past caring about whether or not anyone would hear him in his lair.

This had not gone the way that he had thought it would. Things often did not go the way Dr. Light planned, he was slowly learning, but he had spent months, _months _making sure that this plan would go perfectly. He had thought that he had now worked out all of the kinks and inconsistent bumps had been smoothed out and practically forgotten. His meticulous planning had now gone all to waste due to those accursed Titans.

Next time he did something like this he would be sure to get his equipment from a more reliable source. He should have expected something like this to happen when he had paid those thieves to get this time machine for him. They had promised him that nothing like this would happen, and that they had stolen it from this best. If you want a job done well, do it yourself. How could he have forgotten that?

The Titans had somehow found out about his plan. That had to be the only way that they had been in the right place at the right time. But how? He flipped quickly through his memories, because he knew that he had to have _some _of this time period since he had evidently done this before, but there were so few of them that he hardly spent any time doing it. His brain had been so scrambled that most of his life, through his eyes at least, had been forgotten.

There was a whimper from the ground, and Dr. Light looked at his younger self in disgust. How had he gone from genius to _that_? It was despicable, the Justice League had robbed him of far too much. "W-w-who are you?" his younger face looked up at him fearfully. "What do you want from me? I don't have anything that you would want! I don't have anything. Look!"

Indeed the room was mostly empty. There was a desk shoved in the corner and on top of the desk was a desk lamp and several papers scattered everywhere and a chair had been pushed hurriedly underneath it. In the other corner there was a cot with a quilt thrown over it and was currently folded up. There was an electrical outlet, just one, that had a plug plugged in that led to nowhere. Light bulbs were scattered everywhere, most of them broken but a few of them whole. Not exactly the prime place for a super villain of Dr. Light's pedigree to stay, but it would have to do. It was the only place that he had.

"I'm _you_, you twit. How can you not see that?" He snarled this at himself and watched as he cowered away. Despicable.

"What are you talking about? There are only one of me." This was like handling a child, and a rather stupid one at that. He had been simple, that was the only way that he could think to put it. This would not do. He could not work with an incompetent helper.

His patience running thin he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to shout. "I am you. I am from the future. Understand?" he spoke slowly and clearly enunciating every syllable, like you would to a especially idiotic foreign exchange student.

"No." Looking at the other Dr. Light's expression he quickly back tracked. "I mean, yes. Yes, of course. You're me, and I, I'm you!"

"Very good." At least now they were almost getting somewhere. "I came back here to help you get revenge."

"Revenge?"

"Yes. Revenge." Dr. Light said this with relish. At least now they were getting somewhere. "Now, who are the people that you hate the most in the world?" The Justice League, he answered privately to himself, but he didn't dare say that out loud lest he confuse the dim witted person in front of him.

"I don't know!" The younger Dr. Light winced, watching his older self's facial expression. It must not have been a pretty one. "Wait, yes I do. The Teen Titans, right?"

"Bingo."

..O..

The first thing that the Titans had done the next morning was make sure that all of the older Titans were called by their real names. Things had gotten far too confusing having two Cyborgs, two Ravens, and two Starfires. The six of them had been constantly looking over at everyone that had said their name, causing the person talking to have to say, "No not _you_, the other you," which had just ended up confusing everyone more.

So now the older Starfire was Kory, Raven was Rachel, Cyborg was Vic, Nightwing was Dick, and Changeling was Gar. This made everything far more simple, which was a easier thing for everyone right now. Simple was good. Simple was easy. Things being simple made for a less bewildering day.

That was a good way to describe Starfire at present; bewildered. She had been that way constantly from the day that their future selves had come into the present. Starfire had not been aware that Dr. Light had something like this in him. She had gotten used to the fact that Dr. Light was just a criminal that had a knack for getting out of jail easily. Should she have realized that perhaps the reason that he had been able to escape so quickly was because in places in his mind that he couldn't access he was a genius?

Robin had done some quick research on Dr. Light last night, something that they had never even thought about doing before because there wasn't any point in it. Why waste that much time on someone who made it obvious that they didn't know what they were doing? They always had no reason to try and delve further into him or his past.

Dr. Light was actually Dr. Arthur Light, a child prodigy in mathematics and chemistry that had began fighting against the Justice League, and had evidently had given them a hell of a time, too. After the League had defeated him he seemed to disappear... and then he suddenly appeared in Jump City where the Teen Titans had defeated him, one of their first victories. What they had said yesterday made a lot of sense. Too much sense.

But Starfire couldn't see the League doing that to someone unless they really deserved it. Being a Teen Titan a small part of her almost hero worshiped the group of older heros. They stood for the same things that the Teen Titans did, did they not? She just couldn't think of them for doing it for no reason. Her team certainly wouldn't do that to anybody, she was sure of it.

While this was Starfire's most pressing bewilderment her other one was, quite simply, herself. Starfire had always thought of herself as an open and warm person. She was the one that went to others when they were upset and tried to comfort them. She had no qualms about showing her emotions openly and fully. That was the way of her people, and just an ingrained part of her nature.

But this Starfire, Kory, was not like that at all. Kory was about as reclusive as she could be. She spent her time in the main room with the rest of them, of course, but she did not join the group. She hardly ever spoke, but when she did her voice was clear and crisp and direct, not a hint of feeling everywhere. Their warrior heritage had never been clearer than it was in Kory.

Kory's face, while still very beautiful, was not the same kind of beautiful that Starfire's face showed. Kory's face was hardened and cold and looked almost cruel. Her mouth was a thin line most of the time and her face was flat. It was different.

And Starfire had no idea what could have caused this sort of change in herself. She could not imagine being like this, ever. She could not imagine what could have caused this sort of change in her. What could have been bad enough that it would have caused Starfire to close and distance herself away from her friends?

The one time that Starfire had tried to reach out to Kory and ask her what had happened had almost ended badly and she had not done it again.

Kory had been looking out the window and into the city calmly. The others were talking to their future selves, and Starfire had been unable to do this with her own self. She had been too timid to even try to approach this fierce woman, but maybe now would be the right time...

"Kory?" Starfire had put a hand on Kory's shoulder tentatively, which may have very well have been her mistake. Kory had whipped around, starbolt in her right hand, obviously ready to attack. When she saw who it was, though, she had relaxed.

"Oh," she had said, seeming slightly chagrined. "I'm sorry. I only thought... Well I am sorry," and with that she walked away again leaving a very stunned and confused Starfire behind her.

But this wasn't even the worst part. The worst part had to be the fact that there was no interaction between Nightwing and Kory at all. Starfire had always pictured her future with Robin firmly in the picture, but she was now left wondering if this was not to be after all. The two of them never spoke to each other directly, and didn't even look at each other in the eye. If they were forced to be in the same room they were more often than not on opposite sides without any hope of being nearer to each other.

There had been one time when Nightwing had attempted to speak to her in passing and she had just sent him a bone chilling look and he had dropped the attempt.

To be honest Starfire had always imagined an older Raven to be like this... not herself. It scared Starfire. The future had once been a place that, while not in her grasp just yet, tasted sweet and pleasant and was tinged with excitement. It was the next great adventure and Starfire was always ready for it, going a day at a time.

But suddenly now she wasn't so sure that she wanted to know what would happen to her. All of a sudden it was filled with uncertainty, and even fear. Who wanted that for their future?

What possibly could have been so bad that it turned her into a cold monster?

..O..

Robin wasn't sure what to make of himself. His future self, that is.

Nightwing, while looking like what Robin had pretty much expected himself to look like in eight years, was not the person that Robin had thought that he would turn into.

Nightwing was still the leader of the Titans, he was still friends with everybody (with the exception of one pretty important somebody), and he still kicked butt. Robin and Nightwing (he couldn't call him Dick, he just couldn't. It felt... wrong, using their Christian names after only using their 'other' names for so long. He had hid behind the mask of Robin for so long that referring to himself, even if it wasn't exactly himself, as Dick just felt unnatural.) were still almost all business, which was not a part of himself that Robin knew that he was going to lose lightly.

But Robin still felt uneasy around his elder self. He felt like Nightwing was hiding something, that he was hiding more beneath his mask than just his eyes. Nightwing seemed to have seen more of the world, and possibly suffered more than the others had. It was a bit disconcerting, to say the least.

Sometimes he noticed Nightwing watching him when he thought that Robin wasn't paying attention, but he was. Robin got the distinct impression that Nightwing wasn't sure what to make of his younger incarnation either, but they both hid it well when they were together, which wasn't that often. Robin was actually spending more time with Starfire now that the others were with their older selves.

Starfire was the only other Titan that was just as uneasy about their older self as he was. In fact, often times Robin thought that she probably had it worse than he did. The others had become friends, or something like it, with their other selves. At least he knew (at least partly, he didn't expect to know everything), though, why Nightwing was the way that he was. It was an unchangeable part of their nature to be slightly apart from everyone else, to hold secrets back if they thought that people couldn't bear them.

But Starfire... there was no reason that Robin could see that would change her to that degree. The new Starfire, Kory, was hardened by time and aged by grief. If Robin was paying attention sometimes he could tell these things about people, and this was very evident to him in Kory.

The Starfire he knew, the girl that he was in love with, was the exact opposite of Kory. The only thing that he knew was that he was pretty sure that _he _was, if not the reason, was a reason.

It was painfully obvious in the way that Kory acted around Nightwing and the way that Nightwing acted around her. Whenever they were near each other, which was not very often at all, Nightwing tiptoed around like she was a volcano about to explode. Kory just acted like he didn't exist when he wasn't being leader, but she couldn't hide the sneer that played around her mouth when she looked at him or he was near her.

Robin could tell that Starfire was distressed. She didn't understand anymore than he did, but at least he was hiding it better than she was. Starfire was often obvious about trying to get Nightwing and Kory to talk, with absolutely no results other than the occasional glare from Kory.

If he was being honest with himself he would admit that Kory terrified him, and not just because every time he was near Starfire, especially when he was touching her, she would give him a steely look that would have made a weaker man than Robin pee his pants. She also seemed like she just _didn't care _about hurting people anymore, that she just like the fiercest of Tamaranians, was all warrior and little else.

**A/N: I know, short chapter, but I just wanted to get it up. I've been gone for a **_**very **_**long time, and I'm sorry. It's nice to be back. :) I hope you all enjoy! **


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